Tanzania: Story of Doctors without Borders to be told in 40 photos

Dar es Salaam. The international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF) is expected to bring together stories portraying its determination and the resilience of patients it has served over the years in Tanzania-through a two-day photo exhibition event.
MSF marks 25 years of medical work in the country from Wednesday June 13, and its story of service will be recalled in pictures at the event that will take place in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. The photos were taken by MSF staff.
“Photos give the abstract concept of solidarity real substance by putting human interaction at the centre”, said Vincent Rico, MSF’s Country Director in Tanzania.
“Direct medical assistance is at the core of what we do, allowing us to work alongside populations and helping us bear witness to our patients’ remarkable and inspiring stories”.
Captured over the course of MSF’s 25 years of medical work in Tanzania, these photos offer a glimpse of the organization’s activities in the country, said MSF in a statement availed to the media.
Authorities said that during 25 years, MSF has supported the Tanzanian authorities in providing urgent medical assistance to refugees.
MSF says it responded to a cholera outbreak in the south eastern Mtwara district in 2003, and provided specialized care for HIV in the Makete region in 2005.   
Currently, MSF is focusing its services in the Nduta refugee camp, in Kigoma region, where it is the main healthcare provider, running a 150-bed hospital, managing multiple health posts, and carrying out health promotion through a large network of community health workers.
“As a neutral, impartial humanitarian organisation, MSF provides medical assistance based solely on needs”, added Vincent Rico.
“While recognising the specific needs of refugees, we strongly believe in orienting our assistance programmes in a way that also supports vulnerable Tanzanian host communities who have shown remarkable generosity in welcoming people fleeing danger”.
The exhibition also curates photos that highlight the organisation’s work in responding to a number of emergencies across the world including the Mediterranean crisis in Europe and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and D.R. Congo.